We Didn't Start the Fire: The History Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Zhou Enlai Apr 04, 2022

Show notes

Communist China's first-ever Premier Zhou Enlai was Chairman Mao's right-hand man, and he was loved across the nation. Big smile, eye contact, questions about your family. When he died in 1976 there was a huge outpouring of grief; but that was quickly stifled by the Chinese Communist Party and Mao's ultimate power remained intact. We Didn't Start The Fire-favourite Professor Yangwen Zheng joins Katie and Tom, having made an astounding debut in the Red China episode a year ago, to help them understand why.

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History Daily: The Launch of Apollo 8 Apr 01, 2022

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This is an episode from our friends at History Daily that we think you'll like. It's the story of the 21st of December 1968, when the first ever human spaceflight reached the moon. If you like this episode, go and check out their fantastic back catalogue, because on History Daily, they do history, daily. Every weekday host Lindsay Graham (American Scandal, American History Tellers) takes you back in time to explore a momentous moment that happened ‘on this day’ in history. Whether it’s to remember the tragedy of Pearl Harbour on December 7th, 1941, the day “that will live in infamy,” or to celebrate that 20th day in July, 1969, when mankind reached the moon - History Daily is there to tell you the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world, one day at a time.

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Sputnik Mar 28, 2022

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Book your tickets now to come see us at the DS Podcast Festival Friday 1st April in Ostend, Belgium: https://www.universe.com/users/de-standaard-4NZ5BV, and buy your Damp Cloth Utopia merch at spreadthatfire.com. The 4th October 1957 was a big day. The space race had been won. The Soviet Union had just launched the first ever orbiting satellite into space, and so ushered in a new age of space exploration, intelligence and communications. Dan Kendall from the National Space Centre joins Katie and Tom to explain how.

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Kerouac Mar 21, 2022

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Subscribe to the Crowd Stories channel for bonus, ad-free versions of the show and visit us at spreadthatfire.com for the finest damp cloth utopia, rock 'em sock 'em merch the world has ever seen. You might have heard of the seminal 1957 novel 'On The Road'. You might have seen that classic quote 'The only ones for me are the mad ones' tattooed on someone's forearm. Well, today, you're going to find out what it all means, who Jack Kerouac was, and what he meant when he asserted that all life is suffering.

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Mickey Mantle Mar 14, 2022

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We have some exciting news nuggets for you Fire lovers: firstly, we're doing our first live show! We're travelling to Belgium in a few weeks' time to take part in the Ostend Podcast Festival on Friday 1st April, alongside podcast legends like S-Town's Brian Reed. We'd love our fans from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and France to join us - book your tickets now: https://podcastfestival.standaard.be/. Secondly *drum roll* you can now subscribe to the Crowd Stories channel to join our Friday club - ad-free access to your favourite history pod three days early. And finally, today's episode. Yes, this is Billy's fourth accolade to his favourite sport, and yes, we've got author, commentator, ex-player and baseball legend Josh Chetwynd back on the show to guide us through it. Mickey Mantle was a hero of the 50s and 60s whose life was glitz and madness, competition and medals. His Wikipedia page is a list of world records, first-times and gold medals. But he had vices that nobody talked about, and they'd soon make his glittering career came spiralling down.

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Pasternak Mar 07, 2022

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Boris Pasternak's magnum opus, Doctor Zhivago, came out in Italy in 1957 but was banned in his home country of Russia until the 80s! In the meantime, it caused quite the stir with characters you just might have heard of, like Stalin and the CIA. Who knew the CIA had an interest in book publishing?! To learn more about Pasternak, his multiple Olga mistresses, and his relationship with Tolstoy we're chatting to Slavic literature specialist and Pasternak superfan, Ani Kokobobo.

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History Daily: Malcolm X is Assassinated Mar 04, 2022

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This is an episode from our friends at History Daily that we think you'll like. It's the story of the 21st of February 1965, when prominent civil rights activist, Malcolm X, was assassinated in Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom. If you like this episode, go and check out their fantastic back catalogue, because on History Daily, they do history, daily. Every weekday host Lindsay Graham (American Scandal, American History Tellers) takes you back in time to explore a momentous moment that happened ‘on this day’ in history. Whether it’s to remember the tragedy of December 7th, 1941, the day “that will live in infamy,” or to celebrate that 20th day in July, 1969, when mankind reached the moon, History Daily is there to tell you the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world—one day at a time.

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Little Rock Feb 28, 2022

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On the morning of the 25th September, 1957, nine African-American teenagers climbed the steps into Little Rock Central High School, faced by a teaming mass of hostility and hatred. They were hit, shouted at, spat on, and tripped up. Only one of them would eventually graduate from the school; the rest would be driven out by daily aggressions and racial abuse. The experience of the Little Rock Nine would become one of the pivotal moments in the modern Civil Rights Movement and we're very lucky to have ex-student, pastor, local historian and acquaintance of the nine students on today's episode, Ryan Davis. Subscribe to the Crowd Stories channel for ad-free versions of this show.

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Trouble in the Suez Feb 21, 2022

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Four words that bring together Nasser, Eisenhower, Khrushchev and British Prime Minister Anthony Eden for what might be Billy's most difficult lyric to sing. But, what was the Suez crisis all about? And what did it mean for Egypt, Britain, France, Israel, the US and more? Tarek Osman is back on the show to tell us.

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Peyton Place Feb 14, 2022

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It’s 1956 and Peyton Place is “the extraordinary new novel that lifts the lid off a small New England town”. It includes incest, abortion, adultery and murder and inspired a film and a soap opera. It might be one of the darkest and most intense books we’ve ever heard of and Dr Cara Rodway really wanted to chat about it, so she’s back for a record breaking fourth Fire appearance.

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